HALO Lethality: Combat Reformed
by Chris Talonflight
Summary: The unknown survivor of Master Cheif's SPARTAN class was finally awoken, and sent to battle the Flood... What will happen when true love and war makes him start to question the morals of teh civilization he was trained from birth to defend from aggresion?
1. Chapter 1

"No." I said firmly. I said it with finality. I didn't care anymore about the consequences. Nothing that they could do now was worse. Thirty of my comrades lay dead, and twelve more were horribly mutated as the result of the augmentations and gene editing. Thanks to the military's meddling, we were super soldiers. However, I never asked to be changed from a normal guy into a killing machine. In my opinion, the dead were the lucky ones. Because they were at peace. They would be reunited with their parents one day in whatever afterlife happened. I, however, was here with the surviving SPARTAN super soldiers.

We had been kidnapped (_recruited_ was the term that the military used, but in reality, it was kidnapping) at the age of six by these army goons. I was now older, and smarter. I had once actually believed all that crap about duty and sacrifice. All I knew was that this here I would not comply to.

"What did you say?"Officer Mendez, our commanding officer, growled from beneath his bushy eye brows. They reminded me of caterpillars.

"I said no. I will never, ever kill for your goal to control humanity. Ever. People have a right to pursue their dreams. You may think that you can use me, but I…" I trailed off, before firming my jaw. "No."

"Soldier, do you care to retract that statement?" my group leader, John-117 said in a calm tone.

"No, sir." I nodded to him. I had the utmost respect for John, but this was something personal. These military bastards had taken away my life, my hopes, my dreams, my freedom, and worse, my family.

"Confine him." Officer Mendez ordered. Five ODSTs stepped forwards to try and subdue me. Bad move.

I had been trained since six years of age to kill. While I resented my superiors for it, it came in handy now. I sent a light jab at the face of the nearer ODST. However, instead of the light hit I had intended merely as a distraction, my fist sent his head back with a snap. The result of my augmentation made me harder, better, faster, and stronger then any other human. The other ODSTs rushed in. In a minute, I had broken two arms, another skull, and had maybe snapped a rib. The badly injured ODSTs managed to crawl away, two with broken arms, and a third with a snapped rib. I grabbed the one with the snapped rib and snapped his neck.

_Never thought that your pet killers might turn on you? Oh, so sad._ I thought. Then John-117 and his friends Kelly and Samuel tackled me to the floor. I struggled, but my augmented state was equal to the other's augmented state. Now, it was as if it was one normal man was fighting three normal opponents… if they all are moving with deadly, trained precision.

Eventually, they dragged me to the cell block. As vindication, I managed to spin around as I was being thrown into a cell and send my full strength into a pair of spinning kicks that beheaded the remaining ODSTs. For that, the others began pummeling me. I tried to remain conscious, but I could feel myself slipping into… into…

I awoke. Sitting up, I found myself in the interrogation room.

"Welcome back, Chris-013." Officer Mendez said roughly. "Let's make this quick. Do you recant?"

"No."

Officer Mendez wasted no time. He signaled to a nearby man. He lifted a pair of manacles, nearly white hot from the core. I nearly broke glass with my yells of pain when they were strapped on to my wrists. The torture began.

I awoke again, this time chained in a cryofreeze tank.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Hey! Anyone there?"

A man approached. He stopped in front of me.

"So you're the one." He said softly. "You are the dissenter."

"Damn straight." I snorted. "I haven't got something against the military, but I kinda resent being kidnapped, augmented, tortured, you know, the usual." I responded with biting sarcasm.

The official got straight to the point.

"SPARTAN-013 you are hereby subjected to serve out a sentence of permanent cryofreeze for mutinous actions. You should be aware that this is the most lenient punishment that we can inflict upon you, regarding your actions and your words."

"Wait!" I yelled. In cryofreeze, you were in frozen asleep, and the aging process for your body was temporarily stopped. I could go into cryo now, and wake up in 100 years, and I would still be the same age. "But what about the rest of the people? I'm a SPARTAN! You can't afford to do that to me!"

"That's the only reason we aren't killing you. Initiating cryofreeze." The officer intoned, ignoring my pleas.

_Screw you._ I thought. I resolved to take my punishment as a man, like the SPARTAN-II I had been trained to be.

The injection of the sleeping agent punctured my skin, injecting deep into my blood.

"Sleep well." The officer said sarcastically.

_Damn… If I ever get out of here… I'm gonna retract that statement… this isn't worth it._

My last thoughts swirled around in my head as I fell into unconsciousness.

"Shit!" I yelled. I sat bolt upright. I coughed, and the bio-nutrients that had coated my insides came up with a vengeance. I flipped out of the cryofreeze tank.

"Stand at attention, sir!" A general snapped. I stood at attention.

"Now listen up and listen well!" he roared. "I don't like you. Let's get that straight. You were a dissenter, and although you retracted you statement, you still are on parole. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yes sir!" I snapped a salute.

"You have been woken up because we desperately need your help." The general began pacing. "You were a member of the SPARTAN-II first class, correct?" he asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"Your entire platoon, with the exception of Spartan-117 and you, Spartan-013, are obliterated."

"How did that happen, sir?"

"Glassed along with the rest of the planet Reach." He snarled. "Considering that you are literally "blank", let's begin." He pointed at a holopanel. "Humanity has been at war with the Covenant for a long time, since a bit after you went into that tube. Since then, these aliens have overrun our colonies. And now they are here, on Earth." He motioned to another holopanel. "This is the Ark." He pointed. "It was built by an ancient civilization known as the Forerunners. The Forerunners were a technologically advanced race, far beyond ours or the Covenant. They have constructed an array of weapons that have the potential to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. Everything."

The general rubbed his forehead. "The Forerunners were invaded by a parasitical race of aliens known as the Flood. The Flood feed on intelligent life and in doing so become ever more intelligent themselves. The Flood is unique: it uses its enemy's strength against them. The Flood is a parasite: a spore will attach itself to you spine, and take over your bodily functions and your brain. It will transform you into one of various forms as its new body. The Forerunners were a highly advanced people, but they realized that it was hopeless, because if even one spore made it past their lines, they failed. In desperation, they made a decision to destroy everything.

"In a desperate attempt to ensure that they would be the last victims, they built a secret weapon of terrifying power. They called it "Halo." It was an array of weapons scattered throughout the galaxy. Its effect would spread throughout known space, destroying the Flood, and every thinking creature in the galaxy. You see, the Flood fed on sentient, and sometimes non-sentient, species to survive. The Halos would destroy the infection, and its food supply. When they activated it, every intelligent species in the Galaxy was obliterated, including the Forerunners. However, they had shielded specimens of each intelligent race, and once the Flood was gone, their droids reseeded life."

The General paused. "For some reason, the Covenant believes that the Halos will send them on some "Great Journey," some religious nonsense. They seem intent upon activating the Halos, ignorant and heedless of the fact that if the Halos are activated, all of us will be destroyed. Also, worse, on each Halo some specimens of Flood were contained for scientific research. The other surviving member of your group, Spartan-117, discovered Halo Installation 04, and destroyed it, along with its cache of Flood. However, when we came upon Halo Installation 05, the Flood there had escaped from captivity, and overrun the Covenant presence on that planet. The failure to destroy that installation has cost us.

"There are several types of Flood. There is the infection form, or Spore, that is used to infect living or sufficiently intact dead organisms. After a creature is infected, it can go one of two ways. A combat form, in which the Flood takes up residence in the chest cavity, and the body is transformed to a fighting one; or there is a Carrier form, which is thought to be made of bodies too damaged to be of use in making combat forms. A carrier form will consist of legs and a huge sac which carries any number of infection forms, spewing them out upon damage to the form or proximity to a possible host. Then there is the Gravemind, which is the brain of the operation. Technically speaking, you can call it the mother, host, leader, head, or anything else you like. Only one of them can exist at a time. It is very dangerous, and when it has formed, then the Flood can move with cohesion. There are also several Pure Floods, which only can form after a Gravemind has been achieved. Pure Flood can transform into strange forms, but are easier to destroy then the other forms. Anyhow, when the Covenant arrived here on Earth, a faction of them, known as the Elite's, have split with the rest of the Covenant. They have joined our forces. When the rest of the Covenant saw this, they fought their way to the Ark, and opened it. The Ark is where the Halo array was constructed. The opening here on Earth is actually a huge portal that leads to the Ark, which is located somewhere outside of known space. The other Spartan, Master Chief, is away on the Ark trying to kill the Gravemind and thwart the Covenant. Right after the Covenant opened the Ark, the Flood arrived here on Earth, and began ensnaring our forces. Our normal Marines and Navy cannot combat the Flood: we are very susceptible to infection. The Elites, however, can. That is where you come in."

"What do you want me to do, sir?" I asked.

"Your armor, like the armor of the Elites, shields you from immediate infection. They can still kill you, but you stand a far better chance then if we sent normal troops. Also, you have your training." He walked to a nearby panel. "I have a group of four volunteers: One ODST, one Marine, one Navy SEAL, and one commando. I want you to turn them into a hit squad effective against Flood and Covenant, and for use against any normal people who try to deal with the Gravemind. You have my authorization for any weapons and equipment you need. Also, see Doctor Halsey for your own equipment."

"Yes sir!" I said crisply.

"So, what do you think?" Doctor Halsey asked me.

I was flabbergasted. My Mark-II suit was a dream. A layer of bio-tech was the inner layer, allowing constant interface with all aspects of the suit. After the inner layer was a series of complicated software systems that could regulate the environment in the suit, allowing me to survive in any outside environment. After that, there was layer upon layer of armor, topped off with energy shielding. A HUD display contained a radar motion detector, a target reticule that synced with any weapons that I held, a display alerting me to the ammunition amounts of any weapon I had, and a targeting system.

"You got any of these for my Flood Hunters?" I asked.

"Well, that's the problem. The reaction speed required for use of these suits is tailored to SPARTAN's. All of the other human testers have been torn apart by it's speed." Doctor Halsey explained. "We _could_ probably remove the reaction enhancer systems, but-"

"Do it." I ordered. The Doctor shrugged.

My suit was awesome.

However, there was just one problem.

"Does it come in black?" I asked the amused Doctor.


	2. Chapter 2

We were sitting in the cargo bay of a Pelican. It was I, Chris-013; Vince, Dante, Keith, and Zephyr, my volunteers; Anec Zamamee, the leader of the Covenant Elites; and a group of three Elites.

Zamamee was looking at his Carbine. I had always wondered how the Covenant got their fantastic weapons. In fact, I was waiting to see just how fearsome an elite wielding an energy sword was.

According to Doctor Halsey, it was amazing.

Zamamee noticed me watching him. His yellow eyes locked with mine for an instant. I did not blink.

"What is it you wish to see, human?" Zamamee spoke.

Zamamee and I had spoken briefly at the briefing: VERY briefly. An Elite is not very good at small talk with a human: our topics of conversation were too different.

However, all soldiers have one common topic: war.

"It is said that only the most skilled of the Elites wield the Energy Blade." I spoke carefully. "You are highly skilled, then?"

Zamamee smiled. It was strange, seeing a four-segmented jaw smile. "I am the very best; indeed, I was intended for the post of the Arbiter myself; only the current Arbiter surpassed me." He lofted his energy sword, but did not activate it. "This is a sign of my high skill."

I nodded. "I too, bear a weapon of skill." I reached behind my back. Doctor Halsey had made me a special weapon upon my own request: a machete, with a vibrating edge. "I am on a par with the one your people knew as the Demon."

"May your blade never fail, earthling." Zamamee smiled.

I eyed his sword, then held out my hand. "May I?"

Zamamee hesitated. The tension coming from the three other Elites was deafening.

_Oh shoot. It's probably a sacred weapon, something that only the wielder is supposed to touch. He'll try and kill me now!_

However, there was a collecting gasp as he handed me the energy blade. He also held my proffered vibrating machete.

"This is a good blade." Zamamee complimented, swinging the blade back and forth. "Harder to grip, but a very exceptional blade."

I had noticed that the Elites had only two fingers, although their two fingers were as strong as two human hands. He probably had trouble gripping it.

I pressed the button on the energy blade. Its semi-translucent blue-white blade sprang to life. It was in a curious shape. I swung it a few times. It was quite efficient: you couldn't swing quite as hard with it as you could with a machete, but it burned and boiled through anything it touched.

"It's an excellent weapon." I said, awed. As I handed it back to Zamamee, I noticed something for the first time.

My wrists still had the white iron manacles fused with my skin. They were shown through special wrist attachments. The manacles now became an integral part of my suit.

_Good gods. I'm not even fully human anymore._ I thought miserably.

Then the Pelican's doors opened.

We geared up, and all aimed our weapons at the door.

…

The door opened… nothing.

It was silent.

We walked through cautiously. Zamamee began sniffing the air. His grip on his twin plasma guns tightened.

"What is it?" I asked.

"That stench." He muttered. "I've smelled it before."

I didn't ask where. It was probably better that way.

The Pelican had dropped us off on a roof. We were to infiltrate the structure to locate a human that had been secretly dealing with both the Covenant and the Gravemind. We walked through a hallway. We reached a door. Inside was a large empty rectangular room, a door at the far end.

Suddenly there was the sound of yells, gunshots, and a strange growling. It came from directly beneath us. We all froze. After a second, the sounds ceased. We halted at the other door. Weapons were checked, safeties were clicked off, ammo was refilled, and all shields were active.

"You are soldiers of Sang'helios!" Zamamee roared to his Elites. "No matter what comes through that door you will STAND YOUR GROUND!"

"For Sang'helios!" They roared.

Then we burst out of the door. We landed in a room one level down, in a room that seemed to be a giant, slightly misty laboratory. I glanced about quickly, but the door to the previous room, the one from which the sounds had been coming from, had been sealed, hopefully sealing away whatever terror had made those noises as well.

"Look!" one of my men, Vince, the ODST volunteer, opened fire on a figure. Instantly everyone let off a round.

"Cease fire!" Zamamee yelled. "It's only a hologram!" Everyone stopped firing. The noises had left them tense and nervous.

"I knew that there was an Elite as the leader of the opposition." The hologram-Traitor spoke. I was shocked to find that it was a Brute, speaking for a Human. "But I did not know that it was the brother of the Chosen."

"Traitor." I spoke. "Surrender and come on out. Total devastation can still be averted if you help us. If you do not, we will find you, and destroy you."

"Find me? Kill me? I am afraid that I am beyond your skill. But come. Catch me. Find me. Kill me. If you CAN." The hologram disappeared. A crawling sound was heard at the vents. The group huddled near the middle of the room. The crawling scratching sound still echoed. And it seemed to be getting closer. The smell of death was getting stronger.

I drew my vibrating-edge machete. Zamamee activated his energy sword. My men raised their assault rifles and battle rifles. The Elites raised Carbines and Plasma Rifles.

"Stand firm, my warriors." Zamamee commanded. "The Flood is upon us."

A huge army of spores leaked from the vents. We opened fire. Each shot popped the spores like balloons. We ran backwards, firing at the Flood Spores chasing us. I sliced away a group of spores that were trying to tackle Zamamee. Zamamee whirled, swinging with his energy blade.

The monsters looked gaunt, ragged, and desperate. They were flinging themselves forwards, regardless of gunfire. Three elites were dead, and two others were flailing, trying to detach the spores that were infecting them. "Look out!" I yelled. I bashed the head off of the remaining Combat Form. The soldiers fired with renewed vigor. The monsters were destroyed when Vince tossed a grenade. At that exact instant, the two men who had been infected began screaming. As I watched, they began writhing. Their skin turned a mottled gray-green, and hung wasted from their limbs. They had taken on the bodies of dead men. Their eyes were blank. From their left arm protruded tentacles that resembled tree branches. I lifted my machete and beheaded one, killing the spore as well. Zamamee slew the next Combat Form with his Plasma Rifle.

I never remembered afterwards how long we were at that stairwell. Men firing shots with the skill of panic, my blade and Zamamee's whirling in the dim light, the howls of the infected monsters.

After a while, there were no more monsters.

I followed the sounds of howling and roaring, my bloodlust becoming overpowering. I had to get to the Traitor. All of a sudden, I turned a corner, and there was a huge pack of the monsters. I dodged through the monsters decapitating with my vibrating machete and firing my assault rifle one handed.

Inside the room that they had surrounded, was the Traitor.

Suddenly, something leaped at me from behind. I whirled, slicing with my knife, but it was too late. I felt sharp tentacles wrap around my helmet.

Suddenly, a blade smashed the head of the monster away. Another monster appeared, and began running towards us. Zamamee stood there, energy blade active.

"Terratis." He spoke, eyeing the brute.

"Zamamee." The Brute, Terratis, growled. He lifted a gravity hammer. A group of other Brutes walked forwards, but they carried metal versions of the energy blade. "Coming was foolish."

The Brutes charged. Zamamee ran forwards to meet them. He raised his arm and slammed his energy blade into the first brute's neck. He spun and blocked another brute, and kicked him away. He spun, blocking Terratis's strike and then spinning an slashing apart the Brute who was sneaking up on him. He blocked another strike from a Brute, and then ducked under another metal blade, slashing its owner to bits. He did a back flip away from Terratis and slid towards another Brute, kicking him over, breaking his neck. Terratis charged, but Zamamee used the remaining Brute to take the strike. He then threw him onto the last Brute underling, and took off his head.

Terratis and Zamamee, one on one. They stood about ten feet apart from each other; Terratis's Gravity Hammer in striking position, Zamamee's energy blade in a strange stance: left hand on the right elbow, Right hand holding energy blade horizontally, pointing at foe, one foot forwards.

Suddenly, they _moved._

In an instant, Zamamee was on the other side of Terratis, his arm just completing the follow through of a slash. Alien blood sprayed from the gaping wound in Terratis's chest. The Brute hadn't even had a chance to blink.

"…" I couldn't think of anything to say. Zamamee nodded to me. I grabbed the cowering human, the REAL traitor, and slung him over a shoulder.

"Tell the pilot that we got what we came for." I ordered. "Request extraction."

"Done." The commando volunteer, Dante, nodded. My volunteers were Vince the ODST, Dante the commando, Zephyr the Navy SEAL, Keith the Marine.

"Lets go." I nodded.

We started to march to the doorway, but found that the Flood on the other side that we had simply run past were in a firefight with the Elites that couldn't catch up. They had locked the door from the outside, and come around behind out forces. Three of my four men were already in the room with me, along with two Elites. Zephyr was on the other side with the remaining Elites, battling the Flood.

"Zephyr, pull out!" I yelled into the communications line. "The Pelican in waiting upstairs! We're cut off from you guys, and we won't be able to get out the way we came in. Get out while you still can."

"There's no way I'm gonna leave you, commander-"

"Just go! Now!" I yelled.

There was the sound of gunfire and muffled cursing on the other side, then Zephyr came back.

"Yeah, I got you." She sounded sulky. "This is Zephyr, out."

_Damn females…_

I waved to my remaining forces. "Since we can't go back up, the only way to go is down. We're going to try and make it down to street level, where we can break through the Flood advance and reach a base. From there we can hitch a ride back to our base. Any questions?"

Vince raised a hand. "Where do we use the bathroom?"

"In your ass." I smirked. At least the brass had been smart enough to give me seasoned veterans, and not raw recruits. It took a hardened soldier to joke about using the bathroom at a time like this.

In truth, this was my very first real life combat experience. I had expected to be frightened, but instead I was… exhilarated. As if I was… having _fun._

Shaking my head, I walked with my troops down the stairwells. We avoided three consecutive groups of Flood, and then we managed to barely outrun another group. I ordered my men not to waste ammo, because we had a very limited amount.

Vince and one of the Elites were having an argument about whether human weapons or covenant weapons were better. Vince took the stance that our weapons were better because they had a faster rate of fire and could be reloaded faster, as well as their shots not being as slow moving as the plasma guns. While the elite ceded Vince the last point, he argued that their guns could fire larger amounts of ammunition without having to be reloaded. Vince responded with the fact that you only got around one hundred and sixty shots with a Plasma Rifle and then you were out of charges, even if you didn't need to reload it, while with an assault rifle you could get six hundred shots off, and even more if you could carry it.

Their argument went on for quite some time. Eventually, I told them to drop it; at that point, the elite and Vince were about to have a shooting match to see how many flood each of them could kill.

"Hey boss!" Dante said. "I've got bogeys on my motion scanner at two o'clock!"

"Ignore them." I ordered. "Stay on target. If we move fast enough, we might be able to get past them without a fight."

My words proved ineffective, however, as a Combat Form was seen running towards us from farther down the hall.

"So much for staying on target." Keith muttered, aiming his rocket launcher…


	3. Chapter 3

**P.O.V. = Chris-013**

**Planet Earth**

** City of New Centrif **

"IS that right…?" I muttered, pushing the man up against the wall by his shirt.

We had made it out of the complex. We tried to sneak through the streets and avoid Flood, but eventually, we were caught. It was the damn suit's fault: It was pretty awesome, but it made you conspicuous. When we got back, I really needed to ask the Doctor about getting a low-profile suit.

The Elite's, fortunately, didn't have that problem. When they engaged their active camouflage, they were all but invisible.

So now we were only a few miles from the base. All that stood between us was a large national park. We had found a man who knew the park, and we had asked him to lead us through. He declined: he said that there were Covenant forces in the park, fighting the Flood. I punched him in the face, leaving him unconscious, and walked on, hoping a Flood Spore found him. A man who refused to aid us was a man who was against us.

"Let's move." I said.

"But boss, the park is crawling with Covie's!" Dante complained.

"That's the idea." I said, reloading my assault rifle. "The Flood is the predator. The Covenant are going to be the prey. And we're the bait." I outlined my plan. We would search for a group of Flood, and lure them onto a large group of Covenant. That battle would draw more people from both sides, and in the ensuing chaos we would slip through. Since our group consisted of seven fighters (Me, Keith, Vince, and Dante, and Zamamee and his two elites), we decided that Zamamee and I, the most skilled members of the team, would lure the Flood to the edge of the park and onto a Covenant Patrol. The others would follow us, and wait for my signal to join us.

I and Zamamee ran out into the open. A nearby Jackal saw us, but I threw my machete, killing him silently. I retrieved my weapon, and Zamamee and I went looking for trouble.

We found trouble in the form of a group of spores and a few combat forms. A single carrier form was in the center of the group. I nodded, un-slinging my shotgun. I fired a shot into the mass, killing several spores. The carrier form, un-hit by the blast, started walking our direction. I jerked my head, motioning to Zamamee. He fired a Plasma Rifle into a charging Combat form. I killed the next Combat Form, and then I motioned for Zamamee to fall back. We jogged down towards the Covenant patrol zone.

When we arrived at the edge of the park, there wasn't a single covenant in sight.

"Damn!" I cursed. I kept running. Zamamee ran backwards, and fired off a potshot at the Combat form which had almost caught us.

Then we saw them.

A pair of Hunters were walking, a group of brutes walking a respectful distance behind them. They saw me. I opened fire on them, causing them to return fire.

Zamamee turned and shot his carbine into the waddling Carrier Form.

A whole lot of infection forms spewed out.

The swarms of spores raced towards the Covenant. They tried their best to kill them all, but then the combat forms were upon them.

While the covenant battled the border patrol, I signaled the rest of my men. We sneaked into the park.

There was the sound of gunfire from behind us. The Brutes were hard at work, attempting to subdue the Flood, but I knew it would be pointless. Once an infection form got into one of the Hunters, there would be no stopping it.

We ran through the undergrowth, disdaining the paved paths that led through the park. There was a greater chance of finding Covenant on the paths.

We had gone for a good long while, sneaking through the trees. Suddenly, we came to a large cliff. Signaling my men to wait, I snuck up to the edge, watching through enhanced eyes. It was a clearing. Off to the side was a group of crates marked UNSC, each crate big enough to hold six men standing up. From the TOP SECRET markings on them, I guessed that they were some type of weapon. Looking around, I wasn't surprised to see the presence of a few Grunts and Brutes. However, what really made me nervous was the pair of large Hunters. Off to the side was a large cargo vehicle. It seemed to be alien in origin.

Signaling to my men, I whispered through the radio. "Vince, Setathee, and Dante, you guys go and snatch those crates. Maybe there's a weapon in them we can use. Zamamee, you and your remaining Elite are with me and Keith. We're going to get those aliens with sniper fire."

Zamamee aimed his Carbine. I took out my handgun, which had a sniper scope on it. The remaining Elite drew a Laser Rifle.

Three grunts fell, with holes through their skills. Three Brutes fell with our next shots. There was a last Brute and a pair of Grunts left alive, along with the Hunters.

Suddenly, gunfire erupted from behind the crates. Vince and his men were firing on the brute. The brute raised a gravity hammer, and started running towards the crates.

I dropped down. Unsheathing my machete, I sliced it through the cargo ship's glass cockpit, killing the Drone which was sleeping in the cockpit.

The Grunts, seeing a dangerous figure with a machete that dripped Drone blood advancing on them, fled.

The brute had been killed by the three I had sent to secure the crates.

The Hunters advanced.

"Get behind them!" I yelled to my men, as I and the Elites opened fire. Keith stayed where he was, while Dante and Vince snuck around behind the Hunter and opened fire with their battle rifles.

Hunters weren't really a single organism, but they were actually a small colony of worm-like beings that lived on asteroids. Together in their little colonies, they had some sort of a group mind, which made them all act together. They could fuse and become a massive pair of warriors. Somehow, the Covenant had made them a client race, and had given them their weapons. However, the armor of a Hunter only covered the front (a method which ensured that there would be no turning back, in my opinion at least). That gave the advantage to anyone smart enough to get behind them. A few well placed shots would ricochet around inside the armor, tearing apart the worm monster.

And so, the rounds used in Battle Rifles made short work of the mobile worm colony.

Inside the crates was a pile of SPARTAN Lasers. I smiled slightly.

"Zamamee, here's a new toy for you to play with."

We had battled our way to the edge of the base. However, we found that the Flood had turned nearly the entire population center into mindless zombies. So, we did what soldiers did: we killed.

I found it ironic that when I had been sent into the cryofreeze tank for refusing to become a murderer, I had never taken anything like this into account. I had refused to participate, so the army locked me up and then came and got me when I wouldn't be killing humans. Strange, if you think about it. It was very… _Convenient_.

We were at the gates of the base, with troopers and Elites firing from the walls down at the Flood. They couldn't open the gates until the entire area was cleansed of Flood, or else one Spore might sneak in past the sentry and kill everyone. I was standing right in front of the doorway, opening fire onto the pursuing group of Combat Forms.

I emptied my clip, and lashed out with the butt of the weapon. It made contact with the head of a Combat Form. The Flood was knocked off of its feet, and was scrambling to get back up when I finished it with my machete.

I checked my motion sensor. "Area secure." I radioed in. "All hostiles have been eliminated. Requesting entry. Has there been any sign of our returning personnel?"

Another voice came over the intercom. "Attention SPARTAN -013." The female officer spoke. "You and your special op's personnel are being airlifted to an inland base. Please proceed to coordinates Delta-five-niner for extraction."

"Why wasn't I informed of this?" I asked, annoyed.

"I apologize for keeping you out of the loop, but we lost our long-range communications to a Flood-driven Pelican craft that took out our radio tower." The officer said. She sounded genuinely apologetic. "I was informed to let you know as soon as you arrived. Your other soldiers have already been moved."

"Let's get there, then." I said, annoyed. "Delta squad, move out."

"Roger that, 013." Keith said.

We hopped into a pair of warthogs.

"Hey Vince, how many kills you got today, you psychopath?" Dante asked.

"More then you, wuss." Vince retorted good-naturedly.

"Hey, you two, keep this comm clear." Keith reprimanded.

"Aw, come on." Dante sulked. "Just trying to have a little fun."

I chuckled. Through this mission, I had been observing my three men. There was Keith; an uncomplicated fighter, the perfect soldier; favorite weapon: combat knives. He was also the technician. Then there was Dante, the heart and soul of Delta Squad, and the demolitions expert. He always carried a pack of thermal detonators. Vince was the hunter, the killer, the stalker. On his back was the ever present sniper rifle. To him, killing Flood and Covie's was merely an amusement.

"I don't believe it!" Vince said, as he fired a handgun into a grunt that was attempting to hide in the middle of the road.

"What?" I asked.

"I lost count of my kills!"

I shook my head, holding in laughter. I opened my comm link, and radioed Zephyr.

"Zephyr, where are you?"

"I'm at the gate, boss, and awaiting orders. Heard you guys got beat up pretty bad on your way in by a group of hunters, so I'm waiting with a few medical guys just in case. You guys need anything special?" she answered.

"A few adrenal stimulants should do the trick." I said. "How were things getting out of the building?"

"Luckily, the Flood seemed more intent upon chasing you then us." She admitted. "After killing those few Floods that you saw us battling outside, we got up to the roof and called for evac."

I rounded a turn on the road, nearly sending the 'Hog on two wheels rounding the sharp turn. As I rounded the turn, listening to Zephyr's chatter about how there were a bunch of new Elite Drone aliens that tried to kill them, I caught sight of the base.

"I see you." I closed the radio connection, and pulled up by my fellow soldier. Zephyr saluted, a relieved smirk gracing her features. I hopped out.

"Any casualties?" another man had stepped forwards, bearing the marks of a Captain. I saluted.

"We lost a few Elites." I said. "But my men are alive."

"Apparently, your human armor seems to be better conditioned to resist the Flood then our Elite armor." Zamamee said. "This could be due to the fact that we have stopped producing new Elite armor since we left the Covenant, while you are constantly upgrading your technologies."

"I see." The commander scratched his stubble beard. "You and your men have earned your rest. The Pelican is on its way. Prepare for extraction."

"On it, sir." I nodded.

Delta Squad, the combination crew of Flood Hunters and Elites, had completed their first mission.

While our Pelican left the area, and the ODST's and Elites took the glory, my small squad of Flood Hunters left the city, knowing that we accomplished our mission. With courage, with precision, and with excellence. And that was all we needed.


End file.
